Your Friendly Neighbourhood Wizard
by chris400ad
Summary: After the war Harry Potter moved to New York, desperate for a fresh start and a new home. What he didn't want was company or a calling that would change his life forever.


**AN: Posted for round 7 of the QLFC. A Spiderman 3/HP crossover, a little odd but I had a lot of fun writing this. Hope you enjoy. I've posted the challenge at the bottom for reference.**

"You look better without these," she held up the round frames that Harry had long since abandoned. He'd found someone to fix his eyesight and ditched them a few months after he'd moved to New York. The lenses had long since been broken and fallen away, but the frames remained. He liked to keep a hold of them, a reminder of who he used to be, and the world he'd left behind.

"You think?"

"Yeah, they hid you face. Made you look, I dunno, different."

She was a muggle, or as the American's called her a No-Maj. It had been one of the reasons Harry had tried to keep his distance for so long, lie to her about who he was and what he did. He'd said he was a photographer, and he sort of was, some of the time. No, he was, when the _Bugle_ liked to pay him. It just wasn't _all_ that he was. The Statute Secrecy was clear though, no muggle could know about magic and if they did without being married to a wizard or witch then... He didn't like to think about that. The weight of the ring felt heavy in his pocket.

One day soon.

"Something wrong with different?"

"No, I liked you back then, you were sweet." Amy's smile was beautiful, her red hair tied up in a loose ponytail as he lay against him. The telly blared some nonsense that Harry wasn't listening to. He could only hear her.

"And I'm not now?" He muttered sarcastically. She hit him with a cushion.

"You know what I mean. You were shy, it was nice. Endearing."

He remembered those first few months, he'd been alone in a new city. Just the way he'd wanted it. If he was there then they had just been in danger, and they always would be. Voldemort being gone hadn't changed that, there would be a new enemy, someone who wanted to avenge him or prove their worth against the Boy Who Lived. No. It had been better this way. He'd wanted solitude and yet.

They had met on his first day in New York. Amy had lived the floor below, a smiled excitedly when he had arrived. Harry had forced himself not to say anything, she could've been hurt too, another body on his pile of innocents. It had started with the meals left on his doorstep when he'd come home late, little notes saying that she hoped he'd had a good day. Desperately Harry had tried to ignore it, not wanting another friend, but she had persisted. A cheery smile in the corridor here, a note asking him round for tea there. Then, one day, they bumped into each other in the hall and she had asked if he had seen the new Marvel film. _Avengers –_ something or other. He'd said no, because he hadn't seen any of the others, so she insisted they go to see this one. One date turned into two, and then a third until finally they lived together.

"Yeah, that's what I was going for, endearing."

"Hey, sometimes the best things come when you aren't looking."

"And you're talking about yourself like that?"

"You know I'm the best thing that's ever happened to you."

"Yeah, you are." He thought about all the other people he'd met in his life. Hermione, Ron, Ginny. After a time, he'd left them because he couldn't help but worry what his life might do to them. With Amy it was different, because he couldn't bear to think about his life without her. She was amazing. He looked back at all the times he'd tried to push her away, but that she had just kept coming back. He wondered what his life would be like without her. Bleaker, certainly. A self-enforced hell that he would be unable to escape from. Would he have gone back to England? Would he still go now? Hermione would love Amy, Ron too, he was sure of it. He wanted them to meet her, someday. Just not now, he liked her being his secret.

"Wow, a compliment. You feeling okay?"

"Fine, look, Amy there's been something I've wanted to ask, been meaning to say really. For a while. I just – it's never the right time. And –"

He was interupted, as he always was, by a serenade of sirens as they pierced the air. Cop cars screamed past their window, breaking their serenity. Harry looked at her, she simply reached up to kiss him, before smiling and saying: "It can wait. Go save the world."

oOo

This was going great, young Johnny Reynolds tried to convince himself as he tore down the street. A little old lady screamed as he hurtled past, using the momentum of his bike to swing low around the corner. The red light shone brightly in the dark sky, but Johnny didn't care as he twisted and brought the bike back under control as it skidded in a puddle. A taxi blared its horn. The cops were streets away, stuck in the traffic. In movies this would be the time the helicopter search light pinned him down. This was the time the good guys won, but there was no search light. No good guys.

A disbelieving whoop escaped his lips and he beamed. Forty-five grand. He was going to get away with it. He was going to – A pram ran in front of him, a woman with headphones in and her phone in her hand getting ready to cross the road. They locked eyes and for a moment she screamed. Johnny closed his eyes. There was nothing he could do. That baby was dead. He was going to kill it. Time seemed to stop. Then there was no cry. No crash.

The baby had vanished. The woman was gaping. Johnny looked round in time to see a man in a black mask gently deposit the baby in the woman's arms before disappearing into nothing. No. Not him. Johnny tried to give a burst of speed but it was too late. The puddle his bike should have easily skimmed through turned to ice. Tires lost traction and it spun out from under him. The world rocked and spun, his helmeted head cracked against the sidewalk. Pain exploded in his unprotected arms, he was pretty sure one of them had broken.

Johnny groaned. Everything hurt. Blindly he tried to get to his feet, closing his eyes against the wave of pain that threatened to crash over him.

"Heads up." Suddenly Johnny felt himself being yanked up by his ankle. Blood drained to his pounding head. His arms flailed uselessly by his side and then the figure came into view. He was tall and skinny, dressed all in black with only white panels over his eyes. " _'ice_ to meet you. No, really, you seem like a _cool_ guy." He laughed to himself. "Don't worry, I've got loads of these. Don't give it a second _thaw-_ t."

"F –"

But the words couldn't come out. He was just raging. Swearing as loud as he could. A silent scream in the middle of a crowd. All with the masked hero watching calmly by his side. They said supers weren't real, but here he was as clear as could be. Papers called him the Vanishing Vigilante.

"Oh, language. You know, you really shouldn't swear. It's not attractive."

Sirens again, only this time there was no escaping them.

"Gotta run, places to be. Don't go anywhere." He hesitated and then beneath the mask, Johnny was sure that he smiled. "Not that you can."

And then in a flash, he was gone. Lost in the wind. In the years to come people would wonder why Johnny Reynolds went off the rails. Some blamed his mother, others blamed his life-style. Nobody got it right though. What made Johnny the monster they all came to fear wasn't anything like that, it was the cocky faceless coward that had bought superpowers to a gun fight; only next time Johnny would be ready and with powers of his own.

 **Challenge:** **Movies that Killed their Franchises (Mine was Spiderman 3)**

 ** _'I was thinking we could have a little film festival tonight. The theme: movies that killed their franchises.'_**

 ** _Yes, that is a quote from Big Bang Theory :P_**

 ** _So, sit down, relax, and prepare for a truly terrible movie-going experience!_**

 **I took these from a list I found online, so it's as official as a random list you've found on the internet can be ;P**

 **You can use the film for inspiration however you wish, but your prompt is only the film listed, not the entire franchise (so, if Star Trek: Nemesis had been listed — spoiler alert: it hasn't :P — you could write a Space!AU, but you could not write something that took inspiration from specific events in a different Star Trek film).**


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